Buckets of various sorts are utilized for numerous activities and can have a bail type handle. Some common uses of such buckets are for holding paint, dry wall joint compound, chemicals, food, plastics, asphalt, tar, farm feed, and cleaning fluids. When buckets are emptied of material, they are commonly used for holding water, other liquids, tools, nails, screws and other small parts. Such buckets are commonly carried by hand, sometimes physically straining the neck, shoulders, forearms, back, and/or wrists, of the persons carrying the buckets.
To transport such buckets, dollies with caster wheels are used in the prior art. A caster wheel is a wheel mounted to permit the wheel to swivel freely. Caster wheels permit short distance rolling movements of a dolly. Using a dolly, a bucket can be moved on a floor without lifting or tipping the dolly.
One disadvantage of prior art dollies is that a dolly can convey an open bucket only on a smooth floor. Any drag or any obstacle such as extension cords, stairs and sudden floor elevation changes will stop the dolly's motion and can spill a liquid contained in the bucket being carried by the dolly. Moreover, a dolly's front wheels cannot be raised to, for instance, go over an extension cord. Going up or down stairs with a dolly is also difficult because the swiveling nature of caster wheels frequently results in one wheel facing the stairs while another wheel is in a different position, which can, in turn, result in dragging. To negotiate such obstacles, the dolly and bucket both have to be carried over the obstacle.
Also in the prior art, hand trucks are used to transport buckets. A typical prior art hand truck has a handle and a pair of non-swiveling, parallel truck wheels on which the hand truck can be pivoted. Using a hand truck, a sealed bucket can be lifted from its upright position and moved in a tilted position and over obstacles such as extension cords and stairs.
Although a hand truck can negotiate obstacles, a hand truck cannot easily be rolled along a floor (in an upright position) as necessary for short distance movements in cases where work commonly starts and stops (such as, for example, painting hallways, maintaining hardware, moving containers around a kitchen, cleaning with mops in the bucket, vacuuming a floor and dispensing liquid on a driveway). Moreover, a hand truck cannot convey open containers of liquid because the liquid can spill when a hand truck is tilted. Liquid sloshed out of an open bucket can land on the floor and be conveyed by the wheels or cause the floor to be slippery and thus dangerous.